5a13be122b
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
101 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
101 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "Balloons; release of nonbiodegradable balloons outdoors prohibited, civil penalty."
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description: "Release of balloon prohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits any individual 16 years of age or older or other person, including a corporation, from intentionally releasing, discarding, or causing to be released or discarded any nonbiodegradable balloon outdoors and provides that any person convicted of such violation is liable for a civil penalty of $25 per balloon, to be paid into the Game Protection Fund. The bill provides that if a person under the age of 16 releases a balloon at the instruction of an adult, the adult shall be liable for the civil penalty. Current law prohibits a person from knowingly releasing 50 or more such balloons within an hour and sets the civil penalty at $5 per balloon, with the proceeds deposited into the Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Endowment Fund."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
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legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
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session: "2021"
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identifier: "HB 2159"
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citation: "Virginia HB 2159 (2021)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Nancy D. Guy"]
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version_count: 4
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action_count: 31
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vote_count: 9
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first_action: "2021-01-12"
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last_action: "2021-03-30"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fbf453a3-b866-4191-aac4-951e3b245d93"
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source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB2159"
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source_hash: "61a0271232b850c3c9d670884d827a1a780c88dcc234b7253b5f7d083c21c53a"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
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---
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# Virginia HB 2159 (2021) — Balloons; release of nonbiodegradable balloons outdoors prohibited, civil penalty.
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Release of balloon prohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits any individual 16 years of age or older or other person, including a corporation, from intentionally releasing, discarding, or causing to be released or discarded any nonbiodegradable balloon outdoors and provides that any person convicted of such violation is liable for a civil penalty of $25 per balloon, to be paid into the Game Protection Fund. The bill provides that if a person under the age of 16 releases a balloon at the instruction of an adult, the adult shall be liable for the civil penalty. Current law prohibits a person from knowingly releasing 50 or more such balloons within an hour and sets the civil penalty at $5 per balloon, with the proceeds deposited into the Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Endowment Fund.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **CHAP0420** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0420)
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2. **HB2159ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2159ER)
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3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102435D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2159)
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4. **Printed as engrossed 21102435D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2159E)
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## Votes
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- VOTE: Passage (59-Y 40-N 1-A) — **58–40** (pass) · lower
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- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
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- Passed Senate (22-Y 17-N) — **22–17** (pass) · upper
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- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
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- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
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- Passed Senate (22-Y 17-N) — **22–17** (pass) · upper
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- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (8-Y 7-N) — **8–7** (pass) · upper
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- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with amendment(s) (14-Y 8-N) — **14–8** (pass) · lower
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- Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N) — **5–3** (pass) · lower
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## Sponsors
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- Nancy D. Guy — primary (person)
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- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
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- Kathleen Murphy — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2021-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102435D `introduction`
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- **2021-01-12** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
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- **2021-01-15** Assigned ACNR sub: Natural Resources `referral-committee`
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- **2021-01-18** Impact statement from DPB (HB2159)
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- **2021-01-20** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N)
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- **2021-01-20** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
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- **2021-01-20** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with amendment(s) (14-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2021-01-21** Read first time `reading-1`
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- **2021-01-22** Read second time `reading-2`
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- **2021-01-22** Committee amendments agreed to
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- **2021-01-22** Engrossed by House as amended HB2159E
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- **2021-01-22** Printed as engrossed 21102435D-E
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- **2021-01-25** Impact statement from DPB (HB2159E)
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- **2021-01-25** Read third time and passed House (59-Y 40-N 1-A) `passage, reading-3`
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- **2021-01-25** VOTE: Passage (59-Y 40-N 1-A)
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- **2021-01-26** Constitutional reading dispensed
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- **2021-01-26** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
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- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N)
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- **2021-02-16** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (8-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
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- **2021-02-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
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- **2021-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
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- **2021-02-18** Passed Senate (22-Y 17-N) `passage`
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- **2021-02-18** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
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- **2021-02-18** Passed Senate (22-Y 17-N) `passage`
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- **2021-02-22** Enrolled
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- **2021-02-22** Impact statement from DPB (HB2159ER)
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- **2021-02-22** Signed by President
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- **2021-02-24** Signed by Speaker
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- **2021-02-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 25, 2021
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- **2021-02-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
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- **2021-03-30** Approved by Governor-Chapter 420 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fbf453a3-b866-4191-aac4-951e3b245d93`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).
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